Readers are likely already aware that the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) will be observing its 100th birthday this summer with special events at park sites throughout the country and territories in the Caribbean and South Pacific. However, as a park specialist, I am frequently surprised at how little many American citizens know about what is unquestionably the world’s finest collection of scenic, geologic, historical and recreational treasures, all managed by the NPS.
By my count, there are currently 412 different units, including a few that are yet to be developed, with such wide-ranging designations as “official” national parks, monuments, historic sites, historical parks, memorials, seashores, lakeshores, battlefields, military parks, scenic rivers, wild rivers, reserves, preserves and recreation areas, as well as places with more than a dozen other official designations.
This is the first of four “Changing Horizons” columns this year that I am devoting to familiarizing group coordinators with the incredible variety of America’s park sites in hopes that more and more tours in future years will feature visits to units other than the ones we all recognize. We’ll begin this journey in the Northeast, which we are defining as the states of Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and all others that are due east of these three.
For several reasons, there are quite a few more NPS units in this part of the country than in the other three regions we’ll be exploring later. First, 10 of the original 13 colonies can be found here along the Atlantic seaboard, so understandably, there are a lot more important historical sites that have been preserved here than in other parts of the nation. Furthermore, major cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia and, especially, Washington, D.C., contain a substantially larger number of park sites than any other metropolitan areas, excepting only San Francisco.
The first “officially named” national park created east of the Mississippi was Maine’s Acadia in 1919, with Shenandoah (Virginia) and Mammoth Cave (Kentucky) following a few years later. Today, one can also visit the nation’s only named “urban” national park — Cuyahoga Valley, just south of Cleveland — or take a day boat to Isle Royale (Michigan) out in Lake Superior. There are also four wonderful national lakeshores in Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana, plus seashores at Cape Cod, Fire Island and Assateague Island. Battlefield buffs can tour numerous hallowed sites, ranging from well-known parks at Saratoga (New York) and Gettysburg (Pennsylvania) to lesser-known sites at Monocacy (Maryland), River Raisin (Michigan) and Fort Stanwix (New York). Then there are the homes of scores of great Americans: John and John Quincy Adams; Abraham Lincoln; Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt; Thomas Edison; Frederick Law Olmstead; Booker T. Washington; Harry Truman; Edgar Allen Poe; Alexander Hamilton; Harriet Tubman; and many more. You can see where the Wright Brothers designed their aircraft (Ohio), where Augustus Saint-Gaudens created great sculptures (New Hampshire) and where the Liberty Bell rang to proclaim American Independence (Pennsylvania).
Vacationers can go canoeing on the Greater Egg Harbor River (New Jersey), rafting through the New River Gorge (West Virginia) or hiking on the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. History comes alive in memorials to Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses S. Grant, Martin Luther King Jr., the veterans of wars worldwide, plus the 9/11 heroes of Flight 93, as well as at sites such as Ellis Island, Steamtown, Harpers Ferry, Weir Farm, Fort Monroe and the Saugus Iron Works. Women’s rights are celebrated in Seneca Falls, New York, and the Louisiana Purchase and Westward Expansion at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Even little-known sites like Grand Portage (Minnesota), Delaware First State, Hopewell Furnace (Pennsylvania) and the Springfield Armory (Massachusetts) are well worth a trip.
Every one of these wonderful park units is ready and waiting for your group to visit, all at very little cost or free of charge, and we’re only a quarter of the way through the country. In May, we’ll check out the Southeast.
